Closed bridges put lives and livelihoods at risk in Mississippi

The loss of a small bridge often isolates those who depend on them. It has also put families and the elderly in dangerous positions. More than a dozen Mississippi residents told NBC News that emergency services, at times, struggled to find their way to those who called for help.

And this is a problem for the entire state, not just for the rural poor here in the Delta. It hamstrings Mississippi’s businesses and industries and puts residents in difficult predicaments. The state, county and local governments, however, all lack the funding to fix it.

Leaders have scrambled for solutions. One often-proposed remedy for the state is to raise the fuel tax. Never adjusted for inflation, the tax has not changed since 1987. In the ensuing 31 years, inflation increased more than 115 percent and the cost of construction grew at 10 times the rate of the state’s gas tax revenue, according to the Mississippi Department of Education.

“Bottom line is that we have a financing system, as far as how we pay for our roads and bridges, that is somewhat outdated,” said Trey Lamar, Republican vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the Mississippi statehouse. “And people are reminded of that on a daily basis when they hit potholes and road-closed signs.”

Two bridges closed by the county left Park, a retired school teacher, without an easy way to leave her old farmhouse, which sits between crowded, green cornfields. The only way out for 10 months was down a bumpy road of orange dirt that became treacherous once rain turned it into a muddy pond. Spring storms left her trapped for almost three weeks.

Image: Stephanie Park in her home near Winterville
Stephanie Park shown at her home near Winterville, Mississippi, on July 11, 2018. The bridge going over a waterway near her home was closed from fall 2017 to late spring 2018, turning Park’s normally two-mile drive to her mailbox into a 17 mile trip.Brandon Thibodeaux / for NBC News

“Most of these bridges were built during the Eisenhower administration,” said Park, a lifelong resident of the area. “They were built to last maybe 50 years. They should have been fixed or closed 20 years ago.”

State politics at play

Six houses in the Western Hills Community Association in Jackson, Mississippi, have been put up for sale in the past month after the bridge that directly connected them to the state capital closed around six months ago.

Dorothy Johnson, 63, has lived in this predominantly black neighborhood for a decade and is now worried that emergency services will not be able to reach her in time in case of an emergency. After all, it took them almost half an hour to find a route to her house when her carbon monoxide alarm went off.

“What are you going to do when you got somebody’s life on the line?” she asked. “How do you explain that we couldn’t get help [in time] because the bridge is closed? How is that going to make me feel better if my child die, my mother die, my husband, my brother, my sister?”

Anita Grey, 48, moved into the neighborhood six months ago, days before the bridge closed. Her problem isn’t with the additional 10 or 20 minutes to the city proper but with how her tax dollars are spent, particularly when wealthier communities seem see quicker fixes.

“Inconvenience is part of life,” Grey said. “But I have a problem with you taking my money and then I’m not seeing results.”